We have previously discussed Rep. Al Green’s remarkably low and fluid standard for impeachable offenses. It now appears to be not only low and fluid but repetitive. On Thursday, the Texas Democrat said on C-Span that a “president can be impeached more than once” and that there is “no limit” to how times the House might want to impeach Trump. In my testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, I warned that this incomplete record would lend itself to a type of impulse-buy impeachment. Green’s remarks raises the specter of not just impulsive but compulsive impeachments.
Green stated “I think that the Mueller report has some issues in it that ought to be considered. I think the obstruction of the Comey investigation has issues that should be considered, and I think the invidious discrimination that I have called to the attention of the public ought to be considered,”
He added:
“My hope is we will expand this and take up additional issues. I would also say this for your viewers, for edification purposes — a president can be impeached more than once. So we can do this — we can move forward with what we have on the table currently. We can take this before the Senate, and we can still investigate other issues, and when the president has committed additional offenses — and my suspicion is that he will — we can take those before the Senate.”
“There is no limit on the number of the times the Senate can vote to convict or not [convict] a president. No limit to the number of times a House can vote to impeach, or not, a president. So my belief is that the speaker will probably say we are going to move forward with what we have now, but we are not going to end investigations and that there may be a possible opportunity to do other things at a later time.”
Given the short (and in my view insufficient) investigation on the current issues, it is doubtful that Green’s concept of impeaching early and often would appeal to Speaker Pelosi.
